Since the winery's founding in 1983, stewardship of the land has been a key principle in our winemaking and farming practices. Founder Jim Bernau believes Pinot Noir made with consideration for the environment, employees and community simply tastes better.
Recycling Water and Reducing Use at the Estate: In 2018: our crew installed a new state-of-the-art greywater system. Going above and beyond DEQ code, this system will allow us to use significantly less water and will filter out organic solids for compost use. The recycled treated water can be used to irrigate landscape beds, potted plants and other non-food uses. Most importantly, this system ensures water used in our winemaking efforts is returned to the soil safely and efficiently.
Wind & Solar: partnering with PGE to provide wind-powered electricity, we have the same environmental impact as not driving 739,488 miles each year. Clean Wind is plentiful, renewable, widely distributed, produces no greenhouse gas emissions during operation, doesn't consume water and uses little land.
Solar Energy: Our Estate has twelve solar water heating collectors and 116 kilowatts of photovoltaic generation capacity that will reduce emissions from utility-supplied energy to prevent 1,780 tons of CO2 from entering the atmosphere. Additionally, we have invested in four solar energy projects with Advanced Energy Systems. These include two solar electric installations (458 panels in total) providing 139,000 kilowatt hours of electricity annually. On an equivalent basis, these solar power facilities offset the emissions from the consumption of 11,917 gallons of gasoline, amounting to a reduction of 117 tons of CO2 emissions each year.
Environmental Certifications: Our vineyards are certified sustainable through LIVE (Low Input Viticulture and Enology) and Salmon-Safe. The whole farm system certification includes preventative measures for water run off into salmon streams, natural pesticide management, riparian areas and reduced sprays.
Utilizing UV-C Light Technology revolutionizes the agriculture industry by reducing the use of harmful fungicides and chemicals while being cost effective for widespread adoption.
Our winery was the first in the world to use cork certified through Preferred by Nature™ to FSC® standards and all of our bottle packaging materials are certified BPA-free. We continue to promote continued sustainability through the founding of Cork Reharvest, the first nationwide recycling campaign that continues today as Cork Forest Conservation Alliance. We place rehabilitated barn owls and kestrels into our vineyard to create a balanced eco-system by controlling pest populations. We are one of the founding signatories of Willamette Valley Oak Accord, a grassroots effort to protect and restore remaining oak habitat in the Willamette Valley. We installed mason bee boxes at our Estate and Elton Vineyards to support healthy populations of these native pollinators.